Reproduction, or copying, systems have been known and utilized for some time. Among the more successful of such systems is that accomplished electrophotographically, and many types of machines and methods for accomplishing the desired end have been proposed and/or utilized.
As would be expected, copying machines, including auxiliary devices used on connection therewith or as a part thereof, have undergone many refinements and, at least in some cases, while such refinements have greatly increased the usefulness of such machines, these refinements have also increased costs.
Included in the many refinements to copying machines that have heretofore been suggested or have occurred, is the development of auxiliary devices for feeding originals to the copying area of the copy machine, including automatic feeding, and development of collating, or collecting, devices to receive and handle the copy sheets forwarded from the copying area after copying has occurred. Document feeding devices are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,552,739; 3,556,511; 3,556,512; 3,556,513; 3,565,420; 3,630,515; and 3,815,896, while copy collecting devices are shown, again by way of example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,460,824 and 3,841,754.
Also included in the many refinements in copying machines that have heretofore been suggested or have occurred is development in such machines of the capability to make duplex copies (i.e., to copy on both sides of a sheet of copy paper). This is important not only where exact copying is desired of duplex original documents but it is also important in other respects as, for example, in saving paper costs and/or filing space. Duplex copying is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,615,129; 3,645,615 and 3,841,754, with the latter including a feeding mechanism and a sorting, or collecting device in conjunction therewith.
Duplex copying from simplex originals can normally be accomplished today on many different types of copying machines. The degree of difficulty encountered, as well as the required handling of originals and/or copies, depends, however, at least in part, upon the degree of sophistication of the operator.
For example, assuming that an operator is not sophisticated in copy machine operation, but has available a copy machine with a manual/automatic feeding mechanism and a collator, the operator can produce duplex sets of copies from a simplex original set by: selecting the number of copies to be made; feeding the first original into the copying area and making the preselected number of copies; removing the copies from the collator and placing them in the copy paper storage tray; feeding the second original into the copying area and making the preselected number of copies each of which is copied on the opposite side of the copies made of the first original; removing the duplex copies from the collator; feeding the third original into the copying area and making the preselected number of copies; removing the copies from the collator and placing them in the copy paper storage tray; feeding the fourth original into the copying area and making the preselected number of copies again upon the side of the copy paper opposite to that of the copies made of the third original; removing these duplex copies from the collator; and then repeating the same process for each of the originals remaining. After copying is completed, the copies are hand collated into the duplex copy sets.
If the operator is more sophisticated, the task can be accomplished with less difficulty. For example, the operator can first hand sort the originals into two piles one of which includes the even numbered documents and the other of which includes the odd numbered documents, after which copying can be carried out by: sequentially copying the even numbered documents with the preselected number of copies of each being made on one side of separate sheets of copy paper; removing the copy paper from the collator and replacing the copy paper in the copy paper storage tray; selecting the collator mode (if available); and sequentially copying the odd numbered documents on the opposite side of the copy paper in the storage tray. If the collate mode is selected, the duplex copies can then be removed in sets from the collator, but the operator must still hand sort the originals to replace them in the proper order.
It is also well known that at least some commonly available commercial copying machines can provide automatic generation of duplex copies, but the required components and/or circuitry involved is complicated and results in costs for such units that are higher than might be justified for some users. In addition, in at least some of these units, auxiliary paper trays must be provided to achieve the duplexing operation and the copy paper must be removed therefrom before the duplexing operation is commenced, and/or if an odd number of documents are to be duplexed, procedures must be taken to assure removal of the last odd page from the collator or other collecting device.
Thus, while copying machines and methods have been suggested and/or utilized for generating duplex copies from simplex originals, the now known devices and methods have not proved to be entirely satisfactory, at least for all purposes, in that such devices and methods have either required extensive handling of originals and/or copies or have been of higher cost than justified for some users.